A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

While the article above doesn't speak about the scalability of the battery tech, if it is scalable, imagine what it could do for electric cars and renewable energy storage. If the difference in storage is weeks for hydrogen vs. hours for Lithium-ion cells, and top-end current Lithium-ion storage can take a car 300 miles...

Friday, December 16, 2011

I manually forward every one of those Google alerts - and whatever other stories I spot that belong here and I have time to format for this blog. It's not easy being a One Man Band, but it sure is worth it.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Play the green wayReading Eagle The lineup he carries includes an assortment of solar-powered toys along with a few race cars that fuel up on hydrogen converted from distilled water. A wind-powered toy is also soon joining these eco-savvy ranks of fun mingled with the perfect ...See all stories on this topic »

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Vattenfall to turn wind into gasRenewable Energy Magazine (press release) In effect, the project will enable surplus wind energy to be stored in the form of hydrogen, which can subsequently be used to generate electricity and heat in power plants or as fuel for cars. The hybrid power plant is located 75 miles north of Berlin ...See all stories on this topic »

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Wind energy concernsKearney Hub Boiling water to make steam to turn turbines will soon be replaced by the fuel cell. The fuel cell is up to 80 percent efficient. Very simply put, the fuel cell separates the electron from the hydrogen atom and sends it out over the line. ...See all stories on this topic »

Essential matterThe Guardian From cleaning up pollution to solving the future of energy, nanomaterials can provide new tools to work on our largest environmental problems. They are already being used to improve wind turbines and to process hazardous waste. ...See all stories on this topic »

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Wind Power Storage: It's A GasEarthTechling by Pete Danko, November 23rd, 2011 The idea of storing excess wind energy as hydrogen is picking up steam in Germany, with a second pilot program popping up – this one from the big power company E.On. But there's a key difference between the two ...See all stories on this topic »

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Maui on track for a green energy surplusSustainable Business Oregon While all of Hawaii is making strides in renewable energy, only Maui is looking at a green ... Air Products and Chemicals to convert wind power to hydrogen. ...

Partisan Divide Opens Up On Clean EnergyEarthTechling... research on wind, solar and hydrogen technology,” support was overwhelming, ... support among Republicans for solar power subsidies might be confused by ...

10-Q: TRANSACT ENERGY CORPMiddle East North Africa Financial Network By controlling the supply chain of our own technologies we are able to secure joint venture relationships for solar and wind farms that are already through ...

Sunday, November 20, 2011

On 11/16/2011 11:38 AM, UW-Madison news wrote:> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE> 11/16/11>> Contact: Kevin Shinners, (608) 263-0756, kjshinne@wisc.edu, (608) 263-0756>>> FORAGE KNOW-HOW GIVES WISCONSIN FARMERS AN EDGE IN GROWING BIOMASS>> MADISON - Wisconsin farmers have been growing biomass for generations, says Kevin Shinners. They just have a different name for it.>> "Biomass is really just poor-quality forage," says the UW-Madison agricultural engineer. "We allow it to get very mature and it's really high in fiber, so it doesn't make very good animal feed, but it makes great biomass.">> And Wisconsin farmers have a leg up in the business of producing biomass, says Shinners, a specialist in forage systems who branched out into bioenergy crops about 10 years ago.>> "We have all of the tools to harvest and handle and process it. And an added advantage is that when we take biomass off the field, we have new places to put our dairy manure," he says. "When you take corn stover off the field, you're removing nutrients that you need for next year's crop. A Wisconsin farmer can apply manure, while an Illinois farmer may have to go out and buy fertilizer.">> Wisconsin also is rich in off-farm resources. The state's custom harvesters are expert at chopping stalks and grass, and biomass could fit nicely into their schedule. After they finish chopping corn silage in September, crews could move on to corn stover or switchgrass in October and November, spreading fixed costs over more acres and keeping employees working longer.>> In fact, under some business models, farmers might job out most of their biomass crop production. If the crop is a perennial, such as switchgrass, the farmer may spend more time in front of the computer and on the phone than out in the field. "Once the crop is established, he'll manage fertilization and weed control through an agronomic service, cutting and removal through a custom harvester and marketing through a biomass aggregator," Shinners says.>> But even though Wisconsin farmers may be very much at home with the types of crops involved and the mechanics of producing them, they'll be on less familiar ground when it comes to marketing, Shinners notes.>> "If you're a cash crop farmer, you're used to marketing your corn and beans through multiple paths, selling some out of the field, storing some, selling futures, to optimize what you earn on an annual basis," he says. "For biomass, you'll have to change your mindset.>> "If a firm builds a large cellulosic biorefinery here, it will need an absolute dedicated supply," Shinners says. "If half the people in the area decided not to produce biomass one year, that plant would be a dinosaur." Meaning that a critical mass of local farmers must be willing to lock into a long-term production contract.>> The economics of biomass are driven by the fact that, pound for pound, the stuff isn't worth as much as other crops. Profit margins may be slim, so farmers will need to produce as efficiently as possible.>> That's where Shinners comes in. His research centers on streamlining the harvest and handling a variety of biomass crops, including such perennials as switchgrass and reed canarygrass, and annuals such as sorghum. But his biggest push has been in corn stover-the stalks and leaves and cobs left after grain harvest-simply because there's so much of it.>> "There are some 90 million acres of corn being grown in the United States this year, and with the prices we're seeing, there's going to be more and more of it grown. If you're really interested in biomass, it's right there at our doorstep," he reasons.>> Since profit-minded crop producers aim to make as few trips across the field as possible, Shinners' first efforts focused on harvesting both corn grain and corn stover in one pass. Essentially, he grafted a forage harvester to the back of a combine and hitched a wagon behind to catch the chopped stover.>> This impressive 50-foot train of machinery worked, he says, but handling two crops at the same time slowed down the grain harvest, putting both yield and quality at risk. "That's even more of an issue these days, when we have seen corn go over $7 per bushel," he says. "As corn grain increases in value, everything that slows the combine down has a much greater economic cost.">> Shinners is focusing now on a system in which the combine harvests grain and leaves the stover behind in a long, neat row. "A custom harvester could come in behind and chop these windrows and store them for the farmer.">> Since buyers will need year-round deliveries, storing biomass crop until it's needed is part of the equation. Shinners thinks the best approach is one that dairy farmers use for forage-seal it from the air in long plastic bags or covered bunkers and let it ferment. "We know this from dairying: You can open up a silo bag from two years ago and it's still good quality," he says.>> That fermented biomass could be good enough to eat-by livestock, at least-which may offer farmers a way to take advantage of the bioenergy market without having to wait for a biomass refinery to be built nearby.>> "If we apply amendments like lime right before we store corn stover, the feed value can increase substantially," says Shinners. "So instead of waiting for somebody to develop a biorefinery in Wisconsin to convert stover to ethanol, why not divert some of the grain normally used to feed cattle toward ethanol production and use the stover to replace the corn as animal feed?"> ###> -Bob Mitchell, (608) 262-3172, rdmitche@wisc.edu>>>> ****************************************************> For questions or comments about UW-Madison's email> news release system, please send an email to:> releases@news.wisc.edu>> For more UW-Madison news, please visit:> http://www.news.wisc.edu/>> University Communications> University of Wisconsin-Madison> 27 Bascom Hall> 500 Lincoln Drive> Madison, WI 53706>> Phone: (608) 262-3571> Fax: (608) 262-2331>>>

The above links are all to the e-book versions of these chapbooks.
For paperback versions and to view a listing of all my books as they are released click
HERE: Dan Stafford's Poetic Universe

Site Meter

*NOTE* Before moving the Zephyr to this domain on blogspot, the original blog hosted at Whizzyrds.com/Windblog.html had over 88,000 visits, and was receiving about 25-100 visits per day since May, 2003.
I am moving the old site meter to this space, and it will continue to report hits on the OLD blog site:

I believe I had around 200,000 total hits or so on this blog before Sitemeter went defunct.

Total Pageviews

FeedBurner FeedCount

Zephyrcast Logo

Home of the GL Zephyr-cast!

Standard GL Zephyr Interview Questions

Work in the Environmental industry, especially in the Great Lakes region? Have your say-so on the state of the industry and present your own views on the GL Zephyr!
Interview Questions

About Me

Happily married with two grown children out on their own, I've had extensive life experience in many areas. I consider myself a Progressive, and I strive to make the world a better place for those around me and those who'll follow after us. I am an Air Force Veteran, and I have been a Telecommunications Technician since 1993, with a Vocational Diploma in Aircraft Electronics. My interests are Environmentalism, Science, Social Justice, Poetry and Music, Reading, Karate, and learning Spanish. I'm originally from Southern Wisconsin, and have lived in the Chicago Metro area (Naperville, Plainfield, & Oak Brook) since late 1997. Moved to Temecula, CA January of 2015.

Why I Publish This Blog:

"One thing that many people do not realize is that states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are sitting on a gold mine of wind energy potential. Or, more properly, next to the mine. The Great Lakes are probably the area in the USA with the third largest inland wind energy potential. Think of just the nickname for Chicago. "The Windy City". Milwaukee is even windier, I can tell you. Why? Because they sit on the edge of a great flat area where there is both a land-water temperaturedifferential, and a large flat expanse of water that is comparably shallow.Oilrigs certainly operate in deeper waters. And you won't have to construct transmission lines all the way from the plains of Montana to put it to use.

The Great Lakes area has an opportunity to get the jump on wind energy's future, if that fact isrecognized and exploited. Wind energy means jobs for construction and maintenance workers, thousandsof them. Wind energy means leasing rights and extra money for family farmers struggling to make it onagriculture alone. In most cases farmers can grow crops right up to the base of a windmill. The landfootprint has a small impact on total farm acreage. Wind energy also means freedom from fluctuatingfuel prices. Wind is free. The cost of a barrel of polluting oil can be raised or lowered drasticallybased on fears or political whims. The potential gains are enormous. We've all seen the flow of goodmanufacturing jobs out of the area. Well, they can't tell the wind to blow in another country so it'smore "convenient" or cheaper to produce. The wind is perfectly happy to whip up opportunities for usright around here. Most of all, because we here in the Great Lakes region have the potential to havea huge positive impact on U.S. energy industry emissions' contribution to global warming."

Followers

Side Bar Links

Dan Stafford - PublisherClick on this pic to e-mail Dan.WE WELCOME ENERGY STORY SUBMISSIONS!
Please note the E-mail link by the title of the webpage. Comments, stories, and article submissions are welcome.
Any accepted submission entitles the submitter to a link on the Journal page included at the bottom of their submitted entry when published to the journal.
The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal makes no claim as to the accuracy of submitted material. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal neither endorses nor opposes opinions expressed in submitted material. Submitter must provide
name, city, and state or country. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal imples no promise to publish all submissions. Adult content will definitely NOT be published.
Submitted material will be screened and appropriate entries published at the owner's discretion.

Safe, healthy, good for the economy, good for the environment, good for farmers, good for you, and just downright good produce:

I strongly encourage those seriously interested in learning about the technology, players, politics, and issues of Wind Energy to spend time browsing the
American Wind Energy Association website. They are the premier industry trade organization and have extensive resources available.
(www.awea.org)